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| Oct 28, 2011 |
Marc Newson receives Lucky Strike Designer Award
Boh staff
By Staff

The Lucky Strike Designer Award this year went to Australian designer Marc Newson, who will receive a prize of 50,000 euros. The Raymond Loewy Foundation is honoring “the very successful and globally active all-round designer for industrial products and goods for everyday life,” states the jury for the Foundation. Newson was presented with the Lucky Strike Designer Award on October 27 at stilwerk in Hamburg.

Previous winners of the Lucky Strike Designer Award include Paola Antonelli (2010), Stefan Sagmeister (2009), Ken Adam (2008), Dieter Rams (2007), Ferran Adrià (2006), Philippe Starck (2004), Michael Ballhaus (2001), Donna Karan (1999), Peter Lindbegh (1996) and Karl Lagerfeld (1993).

According to the jury, the cosmopolite Newhas managed to unite efficient lifestyle product design and pioneering concept ideas, as well as prototypes which have been recognised worldwide as a total work of art, in his creative works.

Newson has set an innovative course in furniture and home interior design using combinations of materials which are characterised by their purist elegance and practical textures. In the realm of transportation design, Newson has created a buzz with the compact car concept 021C for Ford in the USA, private jet interiors, carbon racing bikes and the ASTRIUM space shuttle for EADS Also in the area of interior design for restaurants and hotels, in product design for objects of everyday use, and in sportswear design, Newson has provided new impulses again and again with a “design DNA” that has become his trademark.

Born in 1963 in Sydney, Australia, Newson spent his childhood travelling in Europe and Asia, before studying jewellery and sculpture at Sydney College of the Arts (SCA).  He started experimenting with furniture design as a student and, after graduating in 1984, was awarded a grant from the Australian Crafts Council, following which he organised an exhibition – featuring his legendary Lockheed Lounge – at the Roslyn Oxley Gallery in Sydney. The futuristic lounge chair, an icon of contemporary design, acquired additional fame in Madonna’s music video “Rain”.

After working and living in Tokyo and Paris, Newson moved on to London in 1997, where he founded Marc Newson Ltd. He designed industrially manufactured glass items for littala, kitchen and bath accessories for Alessi as well as furniture, lighting and household objects for Magis, B&B Italia, Idée and Dupont Corian. In addition, he designed vehicles, such as the MN01 motorbike for the Danish manufacturer Biomega and the 021C concept car for Ford, as well as the interior outfitting of a Falcon 900B private jet. Newson also designed the uniforms for the Australian Olympic Games team in 2004 in Athens, Greece, the Zvezdochka shoe for Nike and fashion collection for G-Star as well as the Scope luggage series for Samsonite. In 2006, Newson took over the position of Creative Director at Qantas Airways and continued to work on the development of the interior design for the A380 as well as the airport lounges in Sydney and Melbourne.

Newson’s work has not only been honoured with numerous awards – including six Good Design Awards from Chicago Atheneum – it has also been displayed in various exhibitions. His pieces are present in most major permanent museum collections – for example at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the London Design Museum, the Musée d’Art Moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou as well as at the Vitra Design Museum. In the United Kingdom, he has been appointed “Royal Designer for Industry”.

Photos courtesy Marc Newson Ltd.

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